Arik Air has scaled through the second audit of the Operational Safety Audit of the International Air Transport Association (IOSA) just as the airline said its airplanes are fitted with Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment that makes the aircraft to land with recourse to instrument landing system at airports.
The airline explained that with GPS, the aircraft in its fleet can land at zero visibility at any airport in the country.
IOSA is the benchmark for global safety management in airlines and all IATA members are registered and must remain registered in order to maintain IATA membership.
Presently, two domestic airlines; Arik Air and Air Nigeria are the only airlines on IOSA register.
Speaking with journalists during a facility tour of the airline headquarters at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, the Senior Vice President, Operations, Arik Air, Rob Thomas, at the airline Operational Control Centre (OCC), where all it flights are tracked, disclosed that Arik Air airplanes can land with zero visibility, adding that however, the airline does not take off when there is adverse weather report or when there is zero visibility based on the safety ground.
The minimum approved visibility by Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) is 1,200.
He added that the GPS in Arik Air airplanes had been integrated into Auto Pilot System (APS) and Flight Management System (FMS), adding that these differentiate the new generation aircraft from the older ones.
Thomas stated that OCC in Arik Air could be comparable to the one in Emirates, adding that with this equipment, it is easier to track the airline’s aircraft, those delayed, gives the airline current global weather report, indicate when an aircraft is due for maintenance, where it will be maintained among others.
He stated that maintenance checks such as A and B are done at the airline’s maintenance hangar by Lufthansa Techniks but was quick to add that major maintenance such as C and D are done abroad.
He disclosed that the airline passed the second IOSA programme and that it was done three weeks ago.
This is coming just as experts are asking the Federal Government to make it compulsory for domestic airlines to belong to IATA, which would make the airlines go through IOSA following the Dana MD 83 aircraft crash which occurred on June 3, 2012, killing 153 passengers, six crew on board and six persons on the ground.
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